Daybook

Giving thanks - that I was prompted and convicted to resume my walks at my favorite park. This alone is such a gift and so, so good for my spirit. It is an investment in my life and, therefore, an investment in good stewardship and service to the people in my life. 

Outside my window - rain and cooler weather than we’ve had the past week or two. Thunder. Humidity - yuck. A garden that is starting to get out of control LOL. My son-in-love discovered a full grown and ready-to-pick cucumber while he and my daughter were picking sweet, orange cherry tomatoes for their boys. I wouldn’t have known it was there, ready to be enjoyed. Now I know I have to brave the heat and humidity to get out there and get stuff off the vines before they rot. And this would be a good reason why I am questioning the wisdom of gardening for us :-)

Clothing myself in - new pajamas :-) My favorite summer pajamas were starting to wear pretty thin. I have had them for about 15 years, so it really was time to replace them. Some days… I love lingering in my pajamas. Other days, that would be a hindrance to getting to work. It’s Sunday, and I don’t think we’ll be going to church so it’s a stay-at-home-in-your-pajamas-as-long-as-you-want-day. Well, the AC guy is supposed to be here at some point to do the final repairs on our temperamental AC system, but that’s not for a while yet. Yeah, you read that right, the AC repairman had to cancel the appointment for Thursday because his truck broke down. I said we could just schedule it next week but his schedule is FULL, and he insisted on getting it done sooner rather than later. So Sunday it is. I wish we’d just worked with him and his company directly rather than our really crappy home warranty company. 

In the kitchen - I made enchiladas for the family game night, and they devoured them. It’s one of the easiest things ever to make, doesn’t take a long time, and they insist it’s the thing I should start with if I decide to sell food made at home. Which apparently I can’t do (yet) because of state restrictions.  Oh bother. LOL

Writing - The life of a writer. I think I am truly settling in with the idea that you don’t have to be a “published writer” to be a writer. If you write, you’re a writer. And don’t we all write to some degree? That being said, I am feeling the draw to come back to some of the projects I started or had put on the back burner. I hope to do something of an “inventory” soon, and as I consider what that will include I am starting to pick apart the things (some of them very good things) that I need to let go of in order to do the things I really want to invest my time and energy in. I suppose it’s letting go of good things to get hold of the best things. Writing is always on the list of best things. And I really don’t have any grandiose ideas about publishing. In the end, most books and articles are lost in the sea of gazillions of other writings. If something I write lives beyond my lifetime, it will be because God deemed it so, and the credit goes to him alone. So I just want to have fun writing words that demand their way out of my brain and onto some other plane of existence, LOL

Reading - Stop harassing me with this question. I’m still planning to read The Becoming, okay? And my daughter has a list of other books that she insists I read. One she is begging me to interrupt my current reading to start. A Court of  Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I have it on Audible and I hope to get to it soon. Maybe while I work on the blackout projects… 

Watching - All American. When my kids recommend a series or movie, they are usually pretty spot on. This one in particular speaks to my husband. It is worth our time in the evenings to enjoy. It’s still unrealistic because highschool students obviously are living adult lives… but we call suspend our sense of reality to enjoy a good flick, right? 

Listening - I’m enjoying more country artists these days and I realize how much I have missed it. I’m thankful I can appreciate a very eclectic collection of music. 

New song - Simple Things by Teddy Swims

Making - There hasn’t been much time for creative making lately, but I hope to get back to it after the blackout weeks. I picked up the rest of the blocks for the block-of-the-month quilt that I started in April. That was all discombobulated… a story for another time. I hope to get back to quilting very soon. I have several projects I am looking forward to working on.

Camp - We’re starting to understand that purchasing three lots was probably not a good idea. Purchasing anything at all was really probably not the best decision. We love Camp. We hope to return often, but there is no reasonable way that we will be able to make it there often enough to make it worth what it will cost us to keep up with membership dues, and still not have a place to call our own while we’re there. I think we’re leaning toward selling the lots and cutting our losses at this point. When we decide to visit Camp, there are several ways we can do so, all of which are more practical than owning lots we can’t use.

Insights - 

    Garden* Do we really want a garden or do we just love the idea of a garden? Was our decision to increase the size of the garden influenced by listening to the podcast and getting caught up in the “resilient living” concept a little too much? The reality is that I love the beginning of gardening season (or do I) but when the heat and humidity sets in I just want to go back inside the ACed house and work on other projects.  I dread the idea of canning, and where do we think we’re going to store jars of canned goods? We are already lacking in space around here, hence the level of determination I have about one last de-cluttering campaign.  Maybe we are one of those couples that will just live aware of the possibility that the world will change so drastically that we need to garden and store our own food, but decide to enjoy life as it is for now. Gardening is one of those “good things”, but is it the best thing FOR US? I’m not convinced that it is. 

    Herbs, in particular, need an honest evaluation on my part. I don’t really need a big herb garden. What I probably really need and want is a small collection of herbs growing that I can actually use. 1) basil 2) rosemary 3) cilantro 4) thyme 5) parsley and 6) oregano. I don’t actually use mint, but I had hoped to grow it for my daughter. But she can purchase or grow her own for her teas, which she isn’t really focusing on right now. So, lots of things to consider in the process of my inventory. Maybe, if we are able to sort through and simplify I will be able to return to the herb garden and get them to grow the way I used to... ^^^^

    Camp was a bad idea* as stated above. But was it? Look at these great memories! It's not that Camp was a bad idea; the way we approached it was a bad idea. That makes more sense. We just need to step back and think it through more clearly. :-)

    We can’t do everything*   Why does it happen so often that a trip or adventure results in me/us moving in a direction that has us doing a “thing” - like happened when we went to the river and we were thinking we need to sell the camp sites and buy something here (near Lesterville) and create something similar. Why can’t we just take advantage of the good things offered to us to “use” when we can and enjoy it for what it is and then come HOME. Why are we such all or nothing kind of people? We will enjoy our lives so much more if we stop thinking we need to have all the things.

    What will be different* The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. My daughter asked, “What is the difference between insanity and perseverence?” My husband's answer made sense and helped clarify some decisions we need to make. Insanity is doing the same thing to solve a problem; perseverance is trying different things to solve a problem. So I stopped in my tracks to ask myself the question, what will be different? 

    I like my office* It needs to be de-cluttered a little, but I like it just fine. The location is quiet and I have a great view of the backyard. I love that I can “pin” project notes and quilt blocks without damaging the walls. It’s cozy, cool in the summer, I can close and lock the door when I leave, and I have a full view of kids when they are here in the basement playing nearby.

    We don’t need to have all the things* - for babies, kids, crafts, trips, canning, gardening, etc* This is mostly a longer list to remember some of the areas in which I tend to collect too much stuff that I don’t need. I can add so much more to this list, and I’m sure I will LOL.

The week ahead - BLACKOUT DATES there is so much on the list of to-dos during this blackout period… I kind of need to think about a list, maybe. :-)